The present invention relates to storage and organizational systems and devices, and more particularly to storage and organizational systems and devices for storing home and garden tools or the like.
In modern American suburbia, the garage has become the storage receptacle for a myriad of items that are necessary for work and recreation. The need for this storage space has become so acute that many suburban dwellings contain a 3-car garage even though the occupants own only two vehicles. Although, in many instances a recreational vehicle or boat occupies the third bay; in most cases, that extra space is utilized for storage and as a work area. Items such as sports equipment, gardening implements, and work shop related items, e.g., screwdrivers, hammers, wrenches, hand and power tools, and other implements for home, vehicle, or garden repair and maintenance are generally stored in the garage.
There are a number of systems for storing relatively small and lightweight articles known in the art. For example, pegboard or perforated panel systems are known for hanging articles in a vertical or horizontal orientation using pegboard hooks that are removably attached to a perforated panel. Shelving may also be provided on pegboards using the same or similar structures for securing and supporting the shelf to the pegboard. Prior art perforated panel systems (known as xe2x80x9cpegboardsxe2x80x9d) typically comprise a pressed composite board material with regularly spaced circular perforations into which hooks may be inserted for the storage or display of tools, instruments, and other articles. Changing the locations of the stored articles requires that the hooks or shelf-supports be removed completely from their respective supporting holes in the pegboard, and then reinserted into other holes. After a period of use, the holes tend to become worn and enlarged, and eventually become unable to retain the hooks. Also, the hooks are easily misplaced or lost. These pegboard systems are also aesthetically unattractive, especially after many years of use.
A wide variety of useful fasteners for holding items to walls are also well known in the art. When attaching items to a perforated wall or pegboard, however, the available fasteners are much fewer in number, and those that are available have many severe drawbacks. Those who use pegboards are also familiar with the frustration and irritation associated with an insecure hook. Such fasteners often pull off the pegboard and get lost or damaged, especially when only one or two items are held. The typical pegboard fastener is a straight single or double bar, usually extending from about two inches to about six inches from the pegboard. A pegboard fastener of this type usually has a pair of bent rod-like offset hooked portions at its top. These offset hooked portions are inserted into horizontally adjacent holes, by a pivoting action, to situate the top tip of the hooked portions behind the wallboard while allowing the lower part of the fastener to rest against the front surface of the wallboard.
While the use of a pair of hooked portions may inhibit rotation of the pegboard fastener, it does not avoid the frustration experienced when the pegboard fastener itself is pulled off the pegboard along with the item being removed. Those who encounter such fasteners or holders for hanging items experience frustration and irritation when attempting to remove the item from the fastener, since the bottom portion of the fastener is easily pulled away from the wall surface, i.e., there is no provision for fixing it to the pegboard.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a storage system which allowed ease of accessibility to tools, such as gardening implements, while maximizing the use of garage space, in an aesthetically satisfying manner. It would also be advantageous to have a storage system that could be mounted directly to the walls of a typical garage or tool shed, thereby allowing effective use of available space while removing sports equipment, gardening implements, and work shop related items from the floor space of the garage or a tool shed.
In one embodiment of the invention, a shelf and bracket assembly is provided that is to be supported upon a planar panel having a front surface, a rear surface, and a plurality of regularly shaped and spaced perforations. The shelf has two end edges and the two shelf-brackets each include a substantially circumferential flange, a receptacle portion for receiving one of the end edges of the shelf, and an upper panel catch and a lower panel catch that project outwardly from a same side of the circumferential flange in aligned spaced relation to one another. Each of the upper panel-catch and the lower panel-catch: (i) have a lock-tab projecting toward an outer surface of the circumferential flange, and (ii) are sized so as to be received within one of the plurality of regularly shaped and spaced perforations. A lock-release latch is positioned adjacent to the lower panel-catch so as to project from an end of the circumferential flange toward the lower panel-catch. Each lock-release latch comprises a cantilevered beam including a lock-release tab positioned at a free end. When each of the upper and lower panel-catches are inserted through and occupy a corresponding one of the perforations in the panel, such that each of the lock-release tabs of the lock-release latches engages the outer surface of the perforated panel thereby deflecting the lock-release latches away from the perforated panel, the shelf and brackets are moved relative to the perforated panel. This movement causes the lock-tabs to engage the rear surface of the perforated panel and the lock-release tabs of the lock-release latches to slide along the front surface and slip into the respective perforations occupied by the lower panel catches. This, in turn, allows the lock-release latches to spring-back and the lock-release tabs to enter the perforations occupied by their respective lower panel catches so as to secure the bracket in locked engagement with the perforated panel.
In another embodiment of the invention, a storage system is provided of the type including a planar panel having a plurality of regularly spaced perforations that are adapted to receive fasteners for holding items on the panel. A shelf having two end edges and being supported upon the perforated panel by two shelf-brackets is provided wherein each of the shelf-brackets comprises a substantially circumferential flange forming an outer surface, a receptacle portion for receiving one of the end edges of the shelf, and an upper panel catch and a lower panel catch projecting outwardly from a same side of the circumferential flange in aligned spaced relation to one another. Each of the upper panel-catch and the lower panel-catch have a lock-tab projecting toward the outer surface. A lock-release latch is also included that comprises a cantilevered beam including a lock-release tab positioned at a free end. The lock-release latch is positioned adjacent to at least one of the upper panel-catch and the lower panel-catch so as to project from an end of the substantially circumferential flange toward at least one of the upper panel-catch and the lower panel-catch.